Chimpanzees

By Bridget

• Chimpanzee’s species are pan toglytmes. That means all cave dwellers.

Physical Features

• Chimpanzees don’t have any fur on their face, and their ears are the same shape as human’s. Fully grown chimpanzees are about four feet tall. They have a thick body and long strong arms.

Lifespan

• Chimps live for about 35-40 years in the wild, but in captivity they live for 40-60 years.

Habitat

Most chimpanzees live in tropical rainforests in western Africa.

• Chimpanzees are fully grown and able to have babies at 12-13 years old. Female chimpanzees are pregnant for about 8.5-9 months, and usually have a single baby at a time. Twins are rare.

Climate

Their climate is hot moist, and rainy, because they live near the equator.

Landforms

• Chimpanzees live in tropical rainforests, woodlands, swamps, forests, and grasslands in western Africa.

Food

• Chimpanzees are omnivores, but they rarely eat meat. When a chimpanzee finds a tree that holds a lot of fruit they call to other chimpanzees to signal there’s a feast.

• Chimps are predators to termites, ants, and have been known to eat young monkeys. Chimpanzees are prey to leopards, and baboons. DON’T EAT ME!

Prey and Predator

Behavior

• Chimps take a short twig, and they pick off all it’s leaves. Then they stick it in an underground termite nest, and wait for the termites to grab on to the twig. Then they eat the termites that are on the stick. That is a behavioral adaptation.

• Chimpanzees have long strong arms that help them swing from tree to tree. That is a physical adaptation.

Physical

Other interesting facts

• Chimpanzees groom each other by taking the bugs out of each other’s fur. Chimpanzees make a new nest to sleep in every single night. The chimpanzee is the animal that is closest to people genetically. About 98% of human’s DNA is identical with chimpanzee’s. Genetic studies show that chimpanzees, and humans share a common ancestor.